Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
August 2004
Community Dialogue
Community Dialogue is dedicated to the promotion of dialogue in Northern Ireland on
the critical issues affecting our future. We do this through the facilitation of dialogue
and the production of issue based dialogue materials.
How To Contact Us
If you require further information or would like to get involved in our dialogues, or
wish to comment on the contents of this manual or other Community Dialogue
materials then please contact us at:
Community Dialogue
373 Springfield Road, Belfast, BT12 7DG
Tel: 02890 329 995 Fax: 02890 330 482
Acknowledgements
While this manual makes reference to the experience and understanding of other
dialogue theoreticians and practitioners it is based primarily upon the experience of
Community Dialogue.
Community Dialogue is grateful to all those whose experience has contributed to the
production of this manual including our many diverse participants, our staff of
facilitators and our members.
David Holloway
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter”.
“It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more
doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than a new order of things. For
the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm
defenders in those who would profit by a new order, this lukewarmness arising partly
from fear of their adversaries, who have the laws in their favour; and partly from the
incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had
actual experience of it”.
Section 2: What We Do
• Dialogue
• How We Do It
• The Dialogue Leaflets
• How Our Leaflets Work
• Learning Summaries And Research Papers
• Where Do Our Dialogues Take Place?
• Who Is Involved?
• Is It Always Cross Community?
• Do We Always Stick To A Theme?
• What Does It Cost?
• Who ‘Owns’ What We Do?
This struck us as potentially fertile ground for reaching an historic settlement. But one
thing was missing; the people were excluded from the process and we felt that the
process was too important to leave solely in the hands of our political leaders. We
believed that without inclusive dialogue at all levels of society a lasting settlement
that we could all buy into would be more difficult to achieve.
By the end of 2003 we had organised over 500 general dialogue events including half-
day and evening seminars, conferences, think-tanks and workshops, nearly 200 local
group meetings, almost 100 one and two-night residentials, 19 youth events and
almost 100 members dialogues in which over 6, 750 people have participated.
In that period there were also over 30 newspaper articles, 23 publications (See
Appendix: Community Dialogue Publications List) and 24 radio interviews. All of
these were attempts to publicise the perceptions we were hearing and encourage
further dialogue around them.
While the core of our dialogues arise from issues within the unfolding Belfast
Agreement and the wider political / peace process our dialogues are not only about
Protestants and Catholics in conflict. We have developed to address the issues
important to our participants and these cover other and broader concerns including
gender conflict, ethnic and other minorities, the impact of the European Union and the
world market economy, drug and alcohol abuse, joy riding and so on.
Section 2: What We Do
Dialogue
We enable diverse individuals and groups to engage in dialogue about our future,
encouraging people to take ownership of the process of agreeing our future and to
develop greater understanding of our varied and often opposed positions because
without such understanding an agreed future is impossible.
We aim to:
• Challenge thinking and encourage questioning.
• Offer a process of unfolding understanding of oneself and others, the outcomes of
which may be unclear.
How We Do It
• We produce discussion documents on issues of critical importance to our future.
• We facilitate dialogue on issues of critical importance to our future.
We base the leaflets on our own dialogue process. Because our membership and
dialogue participants are drawn from across the spectrum of cultural, religious and
political beliefs, these leaflets are reflective of diverse views.
Each leaflet:
• Presents the stated positions of our main traditions.
• Articulates the needs and experiences underlying them.
• Encourages critical reflection and questioning.
Few publications attempt to present a balanced view and fewer still fully explore the
experiences, needs, fears, perceptions and hopes that underpin the positions which
people hold. Community Dialogue believes that the experiences and feelings
underpinning the positions which people hold are at least as important as the
positions.
Our leaflets:
• Aim to offer a balanced presentation of opposing positions.
• Articulate the experiences, needs, fears, perceptions and hopes which underlie
those positions.
• Render often-complex political issues in a user-friendly accessible style.
• Challenge the views of the reader.
• Do not offer a conclusion and do not suggest what the reader should think.
• Aim to leave the reader with questions, not answers.
In combination we believe that these factors offer an opportunity for a deeper and
more rounded understanding of the complex positions that groups and individuals
have and, as a consequence, they offer fresh insights into what is really important to
us.
While these documents go into issues in greater depth, they are also designed to be
readily digestible by the wider community. They are intended for use both as
information and learning resources and to influence the political and peacebuilding
discourse at a national and international level. Unlike the leaflets these documents
may offer conclusions and options for the future.
Who Is Involved?
People from all walks of life participate in Community Dialogue; working and middle
class people, urban and rural people, young and old people, employed and
unemployed people, Catholics and Protestants, Nationalists and Unionists, Loyalists
and Republicans, members of ethnic and other minorities, community workers,
business people, clergy and so on.
We encourage others to use, adapt or borrow our process as long as they do not use
our name without our agreement. Through being open about what we do and with
what we produce we have found that interest in dialogue has spread beyond our
immediate sphere of influence as people who first engaged in dialogue through our
events subsequently developed their own dialogue processes. We think that this is
good.
Section 3: What We Do Not Do
Introduction: Working In A Divided Society
Community Dialogue operates within a divided society. Its staff and members reflect
those divisions. Because perceptions of what we do and why we do it can sometimes
be framed within those divisions, it is very important to understand what Community
Dialogue does not do.
Answers
We do not tell you what to think or if you are right or wrong. That is your
responsibility. We aim to encourage you to think and to question.
Mediation
While dialogue is a skill integral to conflict resolution, negotiation, mediation and
other forms of problem solving Community Dialogue does not practice conflict
resolution, negotiation, mediation or other forms of problem solving as part of its
process.
But while we do not attempt to solve problems through our dialogue the process can
help to transform the individuals involved in those problems.
Relationships between divided people may on occasion develop and ideas about the
way ahead may become clear as a result of our dialogues. But this is entirely a matter
for those who experience it. Community Dialogue offers dialogue as a process and as
a tool. What, if any, concrete actions result from participation in the process or
application of the tool is a matter for the concerned individual/s.
Real dialogue has only one agenda, the deepening of understanding of oneself and of
others through sharing, listening, critical thinking and questioning.
Community Dialogue staff and members have diverse personal political affiliations
and views and we are open about this, but Community Dialogue does not pursue a
party political agenda. We aim to enable people to reach their own informed
decisions through dialogue whatever those decisions may be.
Community Relations And Reconciliation?
i Overview
We do not find the terms community relations and reconciliation helpful in the
development of our dialogues. They are at one and the same time too restrictive and
too vague.
Dialogue may lead to better community relations and reconciliation or it may lead to a
clarification of why we cannot agree and why we must follow separate paths.
ii Community Relations
We do not regard ourselves as a ‘community relations’ organisation in the traditional
sense. Our work is broader and deeper than addressing only relationships between
Nationalists and Unionists in political conflict or Catholics and Protestants in
sectarian conflict.
We work within as well as between groups. We also work with people who do not
define themselves as Nationalist or Unionist, Protestant or Catholic including people
from other racial, ethnic, cultural and political backgrounds. While our dialogues
explore the political / peace process they also range across broader national and
international issues including gender, age, the rural / urban divide, class, ethnicity,
sexuality, drug abuse and so on.
Ultimately we dialogue about the issues that are important to you. Inevitably this
means that we have to look at a broader and a deeper conflict of which traditional
community relations is but a part.
iii Reconciliation
Likewise we do not regard ourselves as a ‘reconciliation’ organisation in the
traditional sense. Some positions and behaviours cannot and should not be reconciled.
In some circumstances following separate paths to separate futures may be necessary.
We will start this section by considering some of the difficulties inherent in having
conversations about contentious issues. We will then outline the key elements of what
dialogue is before clarifying what it is not.
This attitude motivates the avoidance of conflict at all levels of our society. While
avoidance can be useful for trivial issues it is normally counterproductive for serious
issues.
Avoidance allows us to go our own course and pretend that there is no conflict,
supporting an illusion of normality that will not last.
Avoidance:
• Suggests to others that you don’t care.
• Allows the conflict to simmer and grow.
• Reinforces the notion that conflict is terrible and best avoided when in fact it can
be necessary, creative and productive.
ii Divided By Language
While we speak a shared language we are often divided by our use and understanding
of words. Consent, for example, signifies respect for many Nationalists while for
many Unionists it implies permission or sanction. Nationalists often speak of parity of
esteem, signifying an important component of equality, which for many Unionists can
be perceived to mean discrimination against Protestants.
So while we may use the same words when we talk to each other, we do not
necessarily share the same understanding of what those words mean. This leads to
misunderstanding.
iii “Calling A Spade A Spade”
In many gatherings with people from diverse backgrounds, interaction on contentious
issues is often characterised by politeness, silence, defensiveness and a fear of
discussing issues of conflict.
When people do actually engage with each other on divisive issues, “calling a spade a
spade”, they often become embroiled in heated shouting matches where positions are
stated and re-stated in a series of circular arguments. As a consequence of this they
tend to leave with their views both of the other side and of their own positions
unchallenged and even reinforced.
Dialogue Is…
Dialogue is a different and a more effective way of having conversations or
discussions about contentious issues.
i A Flow Of Meaning
Dialogue is an unfolding process of transforming understanding of oneself and others.
Dialogue deepens understanding of our own, and each other’s positions, often leading
to shared understanding and an enhancement of our ability to make informed
decisions.
It does this by shifting the focus from the stated positions that we so often argue over
to the needs (often shared), which underlie them.
• Lead to trust, respect and the building of a shared future in which we all belong.
Or:
• Clarify our disagreement and our need to follow separate paths to separate futures.
One of the most important outcomes of a dialogue is not what answers the participants
have arrived at but what questions they will leave with.
In the materials we produce and the dialogue process we facilitate we ask people to:
• Question their own positions and look at the needs underlying them.
• Question the positions of others and look at the needs underlying them.
• Explore how to meet those sometimes shared and sometimes-conflicting
underlying needs.
We also ask:
• What do you want?
• What do you really need and why do you need it?
• What could you live with, given that the needs and hopes of others may differ
from yours?
Dialogue Is Not…
- Arbitration - A negotiation
- A mediation - A problem solving exercise
- A debate - Avoidance of issues
This is not to say that on some occasions there may not be outcomes such as
agreement or the emergence of new ideas for resolving old problems. But it is
important to understand that these are neither pre planned nor even necessary as part
of a successful dialogue process.
Summary
Dialogue is an unfolding process of transforming and deepening understanding of
others and ourselves through listening, sharing and questioning.
For most people it is a new experience to disagree with others but still to be heard and
accepted and not to be argued with or disapproved.
It takes courage for people to get to the point of finding this out.
Section 5: Some Basic Ground Rules For Dialogue
Introduction
Dialogue is a complex process and a life skill that you can learn and develop with
practice. Here are some key ground rules that will help you to engage in the process of
dialogue:
Trust
For dialogue to work you need to take a chance and share with other people something
of your feelings and experiences. Many of us have been brought up to treat such
information as private and personal so this can be difficult especially with people you
do not know or where the background of some people may make you feel
uncomfortable. Our experience indicates that within an agreed dialogue process this is
normally a calculated risk that is worth taking.
Confidentiality
Dialogue is not possible without an absolute commitment to confidentiality. Treat
what you hear in confidence. Dialogue participants often share sensitive information.
Telling others what someone has said during dialogue may lead to difficulties for
those participants and will damage the credibility of the process.
When we use the term confidentiality we mean that no attributable comments should
be shared with anyone outside of the boundaries in which they were heard. Neither
should you tell people who was present. Beyond this, any discussion of what took
place within a dialogue should remain at the level of general themes and the relative
merits of the process.
Acceptance
It is difficult to listen to beliefs you disagree with but everyone has the right to have
and express their beliefs.
Respect
Dialogue can involve dealing with people whose beliefs you feel you cannot respect
because they are utterly wrong to you. You do not have to respect beliefs that are
wrong to you. But you should treat all participants with the same level of respect you
expect towards yourself. This means that you should aim to separate the beliefs (and
actions flowing from those beliefs) from the person who holds them. Sometimes this
can be difficult
You don’t have to hide your dislike of what you hear, however, because dialogue has
no value without honesty.
Balance Sharing And Deep Listening
Sharing means revealing what makes you tick, the experiences, needs, fears,
perceptions and hopes that lead to the positions you hold.
Deep listening means really concentrating on what you are hearing and thinking about
what it means for the person who is sharing as well as for you. This is both demanding
and tiring work.
So dialogue is a two-way process involving deep listening and open, honest sharing.
When someone is sharing you should listen, don’t interrupt. This is both a sign of
respect for the value of the person who is sharing and an opportunity for you to think
deeply about what you are hearing.
• People who speak loudest and longest often have less of value to say.
• People who listen more than they speak often have more of value to share.
Try not to dominate a dialogue with overly long sharing, remember that time is limited
and other people also need to share. Make a conscious and continual effort to find a
working balance between talking and listening.
Full Participation
It is vital that everybody is present for the full process; absences can have a negative
and disruptive impact on the process of dialogue.
Participants often view late arrival and early departure, without legitimate excuse, as a
lack of respect.
Confusion Is Okay
You do not have to have a clear position on everything, it is okay to be confused and
you can change your mind.
Agreement
Do not aim for agreement. Do not try to convince anyone of anything. Scoring points,
being more articulate than others and proving people wrong are all pointless exercises
where dialogue is concerned. These are not its purpose and erode its value.
Sometimes, however, sharing can leave you feeling vulnerable and having second
thoughts about the appropriateness of some of the information that you revealed.
• Share what feels right for you; trust your own judgement and don’t go beyond
what you feel comfortable with.
• Do not feel obligated to reveal things in response to someone else’s urgings or
example.
This means finding the balance between taking risks in trusting others and remaining
in control of what you choose to reveal. Ultimately this is a judgement that you alone
can make. Experience in dialogue will lead you to become more skilled in this.
Mutual Support
During a dialogue all the participants are in the same boat, irrespective of their diverse
experiences, backgrounds and views. The dialogue is made both easier and more
fulfilling when those participants make a conscious effort to look after each other
during the process.
A Summary Of The Ground Rules For Dialogue
Challenge
We expect that, where it is appropriate, our facilitators will question and challenge
participants.
Commitment
Dialogue needs genuine commitment from the participants to make the process work
and it can be vulnerable to wrecking by participants operating to a different agenda. A
participant, for example, may remain determined despite the ground rules to ‘prove
their point’ or to ‘win the argument’. Facilitators will intervene in situations like this;
nevertheless it may have a negative impact on the dialogue.
An Unfolding Process
Some groups and individuals will only engage in a dialogue if they expect it to lead to
a negotiated outcome with agreed actions. They regard dialogue without such an
outcome as pointless. Dialogue, is not a negotiation, a mediation or a problem solving
exercise; it is an unfolding process of transforming understanding that is worthwhile
in and of itself even though the outcomes may not always be clear.
Fear Of Dialogue
Many people fear that engaging in dialogue will in some way dilute or undermine
their deeply held beliefs and their political and cultural identities. In our experience
this is not the case. Dialogue informs, clarifies and deepens your understanding both
of who you are, what you believe and what really matters to you and who others are
what they believe and what really matters to them. Ultimately, you are in control of
what and how you think both during and as a result of a dialogue process.
Opposition To Dialogue
Dialogue promotes questioning and this is often something that authoritarian groups
and organisations do not wish their membership to engage in as it runs counter to their
felt need for unquestioning obedience in pursuit of their goals.
A Sign Of Weakness
Some groups, organisations and individuals believe, or fear that showing a willingness
to dialogue with the ‘other’ side may be interpreted as a sign of weakness, as a
granting of unwarranted legitimacy or as a concession.
- It will erode beliefs and identity? No: It will clarify your beliefs, and
enhance your identity.
- It will make you think like ‘them’? No: It will improve your understanding
of ‘them’.
- It will create a single identity? No: It will help clarify understanding of
where you and they are coming from.
- It is mediation or negotiation? No: It is a process of sharing and
developing understanding.
- There is a hidden agenda? No: The agenda is to promote dialogue
leading to greater understanding of
each other’s positions.
Section 8: Some Rewards Of Dialogue
Dialogue is more about searching than certainty but you may:
• Disentangle issues that got tangled together, for example, the Irish language
and nationalist political aspirations, and deal with each one on its own merits.
• Feel empowered because you have been heard and taken seriously.
• Be more able and willing to engage in dialogue with those around you.
• Discover strengths and resources within you for dealing with conflict.
• Balance your internal, unconscious and natural bias leading to more impartial
and informed decision-making.
Taking account of our experience of delivering dialogue and the feedback of our
participants we have listed a number of summary points about the experience and the
impact of our dialogues:
Robert Baruch-Bush and Joseph Folger offer a summary of dialogue’s purpose and
value in which they argue that dialogue is an opportunity for moral growth and
transformation, offering participants a transformative orientation to conflict.
This involves, on the one hand, strengthening the self. This occurs through realising
and strengthening one’s inherent human capacity for dealing with difficulties of all
kinds by engaging in conscious and deliberate reflection, choice and action.
On the other hand this involves reaching beyond oneself to relate to others. This
occurs through realising and strengthening one’s inherent human capacity for
experiencing and expressing concern and consideration for others, especially those
whose situation is different from one’s own.
Empowerment; through a heightened sense of self worth, and recognition are the two
most important outcomes of dialogue.
Empowerment
You are empowered when you reach a clearer realisation of what matters to you and
why and realise that what matters to you is important.
• You realise that choices exists about who and what you are and what to do and
that you have some control over those choices.
• You learn and develop skills including how to better listen, communicate, analyse
issues and so on.
• You gain awareness of resources already in your possession.
Empowerment is independent of outcomes. It carries spill over effects into every walk
of life including; increased confidence, awareness, skills and decisiveness.
Recognition
Recognition kicks in where, beyond the strength to deal with your own situation you
have the capacity to reflect about, consider and acknowledge the other party’s
situation.
• You feel secure enough to stop thinking solely about your own situation.
• You let go of your own view and try to see things from the other party’s
perspective.
• You develop a genuine appreciation for the other party’s situation.
At such moments ‘the penny drops’ or ‘the light bulb goes on’. This is a
transformative moment and the central point of dialogue.
Section 11: Quotations From Participants
Community Dialogue routinely evaluates its events and receives an overwhelmingly
positive, although not uncritical response, from its participants. Here is a sample of
comments taken from Residential Participant Evaluation Forms throughout 2003.
“I was encouraged that other communities were in the same position as us but came
through.”
“This gives ordinary people the opportunity to express their feelings on the effects the
‘Troubles’ had on them; that was empowering for me”.
“Some were dismayed at comments people were making, but I liked the real honesty.”
“The process was good, the lack of pressure, the sensitivity of facilitators.”
“I got to engage with people I wouldn’t normally meet. It was especially interesting to
listen to ex-paramilitaries; their perceptions of the troubles and the future.”
“I’ve been to many cross community events; this is different, much more powerful.”
“I said things out loud that were just questions in my head and if asked a question I
could say ‘I don’t know’. I’ll go away and process this experience further.”
“I’ll be more open to people whom I would hitherto avoid or not be honest with.”
“I want to bring others from my group to this and see what comes out of it.”
“It was a little stressing but very educational; a good way to break down barriers.”
“There was no agenda, wherever the discussion went was okay. We had ownership,
which was good.”
Section 12: Conclusion
The growing role of dialogue throughout our society is a key factor in the slow
progress away from violent political conflict within Northern Ireland.
Community Dialogue has learned that despite deep conflicts over political and
sectarian issues in Northern Ireland, dialogue often reveals surprising agreement on
the underlying fears, needs and hopes that people express. It is striking how this
commonality emerges only after the participants deal seriously with issues of division
by sharing deeply about and listening carefully to the experiences underlying each
other’s strongly held positions.
When we share with each other about the experiences, needs, fears, perceptions and
hopes underlying our often-opposed positions we often uncover a common sense of
humanity, a deep identification and a shared understanding. This can be a truly
transformative experience.
Sometimes, however, deep identification is not the outcome and the shared
understanding rests on a clarification of implacable difference and the need to follow
separate paths towards separate futures. We believe that this is also an outcome of
value.